First Team plans expansion in area sales force

Irvine-based First Team Real Estate announced plans to expand its sales force 25 percent over the next year, recruiting about 450 additional agents to work at its 20 offices throughout Southern California.

The support staff also will increase; the independent brokerage is hiring about 50 new employees to work in computers, customer service and other fields.

"We are making the move currently to grow the company and better position ourselves to deal with the growth we're experiencing," said Rick Brotherton, First Team's vice president of marketing. "We want to continue to grow our footprint and continue to be the leading real estate business in the area."

First Team released Trendgraphix figures showing that the company's 1,800 agents represented 5,571 buyers and sellers in the 12 months ending in November.

That's 8.7 percent of all transactions, the biggest market share in Orange County. By dollar volume, First Team handled $3.1 billion worth of sales, or 8.8 percent of the county's total volume.

Brotherton said First Team expects that about 45 to 70 of the new agents will be seasoned veterans recruited from other brokerages, with the rest starting new – some with licenses, some without.

First Team offers support and training to its agents, including providing real estate license training. Agents typically pay $600 of the $4,600 the company pays to provide training and errors and omissions insurance, company officials said.

The agents will earn money by splitting commissions with the company on homes they sell.

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